Wing Loong II: Latest Chinese Armed Drone

A new version of Chinese Wing Long high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) UCAV has emerged according to IHS Jane's website report.

This iteration of Chinese armed drone is closet to the American RQ-9 Predator drone but still it is far inferior to the latter one.

"While almost identical in size, their performance differs - most likely due to their respective engines. While the MQ-9 has a maximum speed of 482 km/h and can reach a maximum altitude of 50,000 ft (15,240 m), the WingLoong II has a maximum speed of 370 km/h and can reach an altitude of30,000 ft (9,000 m).

They also differ greatly in their external payload. The MQ-9 is credited with an external payload of 1,400 kg while the Wing Loong II can carry 480 kg.", Reported Jane's website report.

ANALYSIS:

Though inferior to its US counterpart, this Chinese drone is yet another indicator that now Chinese are deep in power projection capabilities and arms export competition with Americans and Russians. Already, China has become third largest exporter of arms in international market but unlike the US and Russia, its market share is very low. 5% against 31% of the US and 27% of Russia (according to

"TRENDS IN INTERNATIONAL ARMS TRANSFERS, 2014 " report released by SIPRI. the full report is accessible via following link).http://books.sipri.org/files/FS/SIPRIFS1503.pdf